Hemp Seed Chicken Salad Recipe

How Tracy does chicken salad.

Yum!

Tracy's Hemp Seed Chicken Salad
2 cans chicken in broth, drained
1/2 onion (I prefer red, but only had sweet) chopped
1 stalk celery finely chopped
15 grapes, halved (If I don't have grapes, I use apples)
2 tbsp hemp seeds (hemp hearts)
4 tbsp Hellman's Olive Oil mayo
Pink salt & pepper to taste

Here's the fun part. 

Drain the chicken, then place in large dish (with room for mixing).  Shred the chicken with a fork.  Add the onion, celery, grapes, hemp seeds, and mayo.

Mix well.

Yum!  Makes like 6 servings.

We enjoyed ours with fresh veggies today and a pita.

Enjoy!

What's your chicken salad recipe?

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Homemade Ketchup Recipe

Okay, we hardly ever eat ketchup so I've not really stressed about the ingredients of what I'm buying, but we've been exercising 30 minutes a day and watching our carbs and sugar.  The result... 2 lb weight gain.  Thanks!

So I am looking at everything!  Sugar is in almost everything and sugar is evil.  I think I've mentioned before that I don't have a huge sweet tooth, so cutting sweets is not a big deal for me, but finding out it's in almost everything I buy, just sucks.

So I'm trying to cut it out in places I know where it is.  Ketchup is one of those places.  I've searched pinterest and this recipe is very common out there.  I've made my own tweaks but that's how I "own it'  You need to do the same!  "Own it!".

Homemade Ketchup
Ingredients
2 6oz cans of tomato paste
1/4 cup honey (use your local honey)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 packet stevia (optional - I might leave it out of the next batch)
1/2 cup of water
Pink salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper to taste.  Start with a 1/4 tsp of each.  You will need to add more to "own it!".
Additional Tracy "own it" ingredient was white wine.  Yum!  - We usually have chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon on hand which make great cooking add in!

Put all of the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 2 hours.  Taste and add more seasoning.  Mine was way too sweet when I tasted it but adding a few more shakes of the garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper made it pretty awesome!

Use a funnel and slowly pour your ketchup in a container (preferably glass) and store in the fridge.

I had saved our last ketchup bottle to store my homemade ketchup.

I'll be on the lookout for a glass bottle or 2 for the next batch of ketchup.  I must note that the brand on the bottle that you see, is the the best store bought ketchup we have ever had!

Enjoy!

Easy Lentil Sloppy Joes

Our attempts at eating mostly vegetarian continue after an all meat Sunday left me feeling like poo!
I will reiterate, that we have not gone 100% vegetarian... We actually enjoy eating meat.  I love a good burger, a yummy steak, and messy chicken wings.  But goodness!  I feel so much better eating plant protein over animal protein and that's my personal fact!

So where was I... oh! yes, vegetarian adventures.  As I am still not well since January, our vegetarian adventures are on the easy side.  So tonight even has crummy pictures... this extreme fatigue is REAL y'all.  Ugh.

But let's start with a little fun.  Does anyone know where Sloppy Joes originated?  I didn't!  But being naturally curious and a constant learner... I googled it!  I came across this great little article on the history of sloppy joes.  Check it out...  The History of Sloppy Joes by ionnutrition.com

So here's the super easy lentil sloppy joes.  If you prefer to make this meaty style, I've made these with ground chicken or as lean as possible ground beef (but ground chicken is very, very lean and tastes pretty good as a sloppy joe)

Easy Lentil Sloppy Joes
Ingredients:
Cooked Lentils
1 packet McCormick Sloppy Joes seasoning mix
1 1/4 cup water
6 oz. tomato paste
1/4 or 1/2 cup brown sugar (optional)

If you need to cook your lentils.  I cook about 1 cup of lentils in 2 cups of water.  This is about the equivalent of 1 lb and a half of ground meat.  (I always make too much for 2 people with left overs)

Instructions to cook lentils: 

• Sort 1 cup of lentils in a strainer to remove any stones or bad pieces
• rinse the lentils
• Add the lentils to 2 cups of water and bring to gentle boil on medium heat.  Lower heat to a simmer for 20 minutes or until desired texture.  If adding salt, wait until about 5 minutes left and lightly salt lentils.  
• When they are done, put back in strainer to drain excess water

Lentil Sloppy Joes

• Put the cooked lentils to a frying pan
• Add the seasoning mix, 1 1/4 cup of water, 6 oz of tomato paste, and brown sugar if adding it. 
• Follow the instructions on the seasoning packet.  (gently mix ingredients, bring to a boil, then turn temperature down to simmer for 10 minutes)
• Serve on your favorite bun and yum! 

Hubby even had seconds and said this was a keeper!

Yummy!

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Roasted Garlic Parmesan Chickpeas

Roasted chickpea pita with sliced cucumber, red onion, tomato, lettuce, and homemade tzatziki sauce

I mentioned in my Veggie Enchilada Lasagna recipe that we are trying to eat more "plant based" and less meat.  In an effort to maintain proper protein levels but incorporate great flavor and satiety, I found chickpeas and black beans may be our go-to protein during the week as we get started.

Roasted chickpeas are super easy and very versatile.  This recipe is for a Garlic Parmesan flavor but you could totally get creative with this on your seasonings, double the batch for a larger family, and the kids can help you mix the chickpeas and decide on the seasonings.

I don't have great pictures as putting these on a blog was a thought part way through.  We ate these with pitas, veggies, and homemade tzatziki sauce the first night.  I ate leftovers on a baked potato the next day.

Leftover roasted chickpeas on a baked potato with tzatziki sauce.  YUM!

This recipe is super easy, has minimal ingredients, fairly easy clean up, and minimal time.

Roasted Garlic Parmesan Chickpeas

Ingredients: 
Chickpeas - 1 Can (I used organic no salt added)
Olive Oil - 2 tbsp
Garlic Powder - 1 tsp
Onion Powder - 1 tsp
Grated Parmesan - 2 tbsp
Salt & Pepper to taste (optional)   I only used pepper as the Parmesan is salty to me

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prepare a 9x13 glass baking dish or lipped baking tray.  Maybe lightly coat with spray oil to prevent some of the sticking I had or use more Olive Oil.

Drain and rinse the chickpeas and wrap them in paper towels to dry some.  After they are ready, put them in a small mixing bowl and add the olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, grated parmesan, and salt and pepper if desired.

Mix gently and then put in your baking dish.

Place them in the 400 degree oven and time 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, give them a gentle stir and then let them bake 10 more minutes.

Enjoy!



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